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Publisher's Notice. 



Mr. Clark requests that tliis "book be sold at tlie 
advertised price, one dollar and a half. 

The following errata may be noted : 
P. 36, 1. 8, Alcotfs should read Alcotts\ 
P. 38, 1. 6, Orasmus should read Orsamus. 
P. 41, 1. 9, from bottom, grape[^e'\s should read grap\_e'\s. 



. IS 
RD 



'.aawAjTiu^T' TA aaxjoH 

.flOBfliloL .0 .W .tQ. x^ dq^oiodq js moil 




HOUSE AT "FRUITLANDS." 
From a photograph by Dr. W. 0. Johnson. 



THE ALCOTTS 

IN HARVARD 



ANNIE M: L. CLARK 



Lancaster, Massachusetts, U. S. A. 

J. C. L. CLARK 

1902 



THE LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS. 
Two Cop.Ea Received 

SEP. i2 1902 

copvriqht entry 
CLXsS (L XXo. No 

5 / /? ^ 5 

COPY A. 



r <.1 



Ol 



Copyright, 1902, 
By Annie M. L. Clark 



L. M. A. 



NOTE 

A part of these reminiscences having already appeared 
in the New England Magazine, I beg to thank the pub- 
lishers of that periodical for leave to reprint. To the 
following persons also I am cordially grateful for informa- 
tion and illustrative matter: Mrs Franklin Wyman, 
of Worcester; Dr. Thomas Palmer, of Fitchburg; Dr. 
W. 0. Johnson, of Clinton; and my son, Mr. J. C. L. 
Clark. The books by which I have been chiefly aided 
are the Life of Alcott by Messrs. Sanborn and Harris, 
Mrs. Cheney's BiogTaphy of Miss Alcott, and L. M. 
A.'s own "Transcendental Wild Oats." 

A. M. L. C. 
Lancaster, Spring, 1902. 




The Alcotts in Harvard 



ARLY in the summer of 1843, curios - 
I ity and interest were aroused in the 
minds of the inhabitants of the quiet town 
of Harvard, Massachusetts, by the advent 
among them of a small colony of that class 
of high thinkers who had received the name 
of Transcendentalists. The little colony, 
sixteen in all, comprised Bronson Alcott 
and nine other men, Mrs. Alcott,*Miss Anna 
Page, and the four Alcott children. This 
somewhat incongruous family located itself 
on a picturesque sidehill farm in the school 
district of Harvard known as Still River 
North, but often referred to by the Jess 
elegant name of Hog Street. 

The founders of this little community 
were actuated by high and noble motives; 
and the story of their plans and failures 



cannot but be of interest to thoughtful 
minds. It would be pertinent to trace the 
mental and moral training and the early 
homes and environments of the various 
members; but, as that is not possible, we 
will, instead, turn a backward glance at the 
parentage and early lives of those who were 
the soul and centre of the enterprise. 

Amos Bronson Alcott was born in Wol- 
cott, Connecticut, 29 November, 1799, at the 
foot of Spindle Hill. The family name was 
originally Alcocke, and is often found in 
English history. Mention is made that 
about 1616 a coat-of-arms was granted to 
Thomas Alcocke, the device being three 
cocks, emblematic of watchfulness, with 
the appropriate motto. Semper vigilans. One 
writer says : ''Mr. Alcott's ancestors on both 
sides had been substantial people of respect- 
able position in England, and were con- 
nected with the founders and governors of 
the chief New England colonies." 

Brought up on a farm, Alcott has given 
the story of his quaint, rustic life in the 
simple verse of "New Connecticut," while 
Louisa has reproduced it in "Eli's Educa- 

10 



tion," one of lier Spinning Wheel Stories, 
which is said to be a very true picture of 
her father's early days. His mother was a 
gentle, refined woman, who had strong faith 
in her boy, and lived to see him the accom- 
plished scholar he had vowed in boyhood to 
become. In Louisa Alcott's journal occurs 
this mention of her grandmother : 

''Grrandma Alcott came to visit us. A 
sweet old lady. I am glad to know her and 
see where Father got his nature. As we 
sat talking over Father's boyhood, I never 
realised so plainly before how much he has 
done for himself. His early life sounded 
like a pretty, old romance, and Mother 
added the love passages." 

From her conversations with her grand- 
mother. Miss Alcott got, as she says, "a hint 
for a story;" and this story was to be called 
''The Cost of an Idea." It was to relate 
"the trials and triumphs of the Pathetic 
Family," with chapters entitled, "Spindle 
Hill," "Temple School," "Fruitlands," 
"Boston," and "Concord." I believe the 
fear of seeming to present her father's 
characteristics to ridicule kept her from 

11 



fulfilling fchis purpose; at least, only the 
Fruitlands chapter — ''Transcendental Wild 
Oats" — ever saw the light. 

Mrs. Alcott — Abba May — was the twelfth 
and youngest child of Colonel Joseph May, 
of Boston, her mother being Dorothy 
Sewall. Miss May was visiting her brother, 
the Rev. Samuel J. May, minister over a 
Unitarian church in Brooklyn, Connecticut, 
when she met her future husband. They 
were married by her brother 23 May, 1830, 
in King's Chapel, where the bride had been 
baptised in infancy. It is said that Mrs. 
May was a woman of rare and charming 
character, and any one who ever saw Mrs. 
Alcott can readily believe what she herself 
wrote of her mother: "She never said great 
things, but did ten thousand generous 
ones." 

Alcott was farmer boy, peddler, and 
teacher by turns. In 1832 he was teaching 
in Grermantown, Pennsylvania, where on 
his thirty -third birthday was born his sec- 
ond daughter, Louisa, whose feet were to 
mount the ladder of fame higher than his 
own. 

12 



Louisa Alcott's character, which united 
many of the traits of both parents, may, I 
think, be aptly described in this quatrain of 
the great Goethe : 

*'Vom Vater hab' ich die Statur, 
Des Lebens ernstes f iihren ; 
Vom Muttercben die Frobnatur, 
Die Lust zu fabulieren." 

From Grermantown to Boston and the 
famous Temple School; and here Alcott 
was gradually formulating the plan which 
led to the settlement of Fruitlands, and also 
strenously carrying out his conviction that 
the simplest food was alone conducive to 
high and lofty thinking and living. We 
are told that the children grew very tired of 
rice without sugar, and Grraham meal with- 
out either butter or molasses. 

He was, this high priest of high ideas, 
very critical in religious matters, writing 
thus: ''I am dissatisfied with the general 
preaching of every sect and with the indi- 
viduals of any sect." Some one has said 
that he seemed to have adopted what Sir 
William Davenant called an ''ingenuous 
Quakerism." Soon the title of philosopher 



was added to that of teacher; and he be- 
came known as a bright and shining light 
among the visionary but earnest company 
of Transcendentalists. 

Going to England, he found there con- 
genial spirits, and in October, 1842, he came 
home, accompanied by three of these new 
friends, Charles Lane and his son, William, 
and Henry C Wright. 

Miss Alcott, in ''Transcendental Wild 
Oats," which she further entitles a chapter 
from an unwritten romance, writes as 
follows : 

"On the first day of June, 1843, a large 
wagon, drawn by a small horse and con- 
taining a motley load, went lumbering over 
certain New England hills, with the pleasing 
accompaniments of wind, rain and hail. A 
serene man with a serene child upon his 
knee was driving, or rather being driven, 
for the small horse had it all his own way. 
Behind a small boy, embracing a bust of 
Socrates, was an energetic looking woman, 
with a benevolent brow, satirical mouth and 
eyes full of hope and courage. A baby 
reposed upon her lap, a mirror leaned 

14 



danceu ..out li»" '^-'^ -^ -^ ^" ?d 

with a hv'-' "" i. ;.a^ v> s. * '• 

she tried i s- one but 

Twilight br M J, and the rai-. 

down in a dv,.^ •. < nt drizzle, but the ^ . ...^ 
man sfazed as tranquilly into the fog as if 
he beheld a radiant hn-w of promise span- 
ning the Gfrf^v ^^^T ' n?; PTimp fhr^ T>r^\xr 



A dam and 1 




One of the 


ki^ 


''the wilderr- 


.>" 


wrote thus 


. ^ the 


name they de< 


<> jj:ive their new home : 


''It is very 


^Ttuated, mthout a 


road, but sur> 


1 irreen 


landscap(^ of , 


and iir 



could have been more roii 

site chosen — a field of about a hui es 

on a hillside, ^ i? to the river, v 

most lovely \iew8 of VVaehusett and 

nock to the wc orven 

dotted with towr 

background v< iit 

01 i^rospCjjjjj l^jj^gQg^ QT dAoa aHT no 



^ 




ON THE ROAD TO PROSPECT HILL. 
From a photograph hy J. C. L. Clark. 



against her knee, a basket of provisions 
danced about her feet, and she struggled 
with a large, unruly umbrella, with which 
she tried to cover every one but herself. 
Twilight began to fall, and the rain came 
down in a despondent drizzle, but the calm 
man gazed as tranquilly into the fog as if 
he beheld a radiant bow of promise span- 
ning the gray sky." Thus came this new 
Adam and Eve into their hoped for Eden. 

One of the band who were here to make 
"the wilderness blossom like the rose" 
wrote thus of Fruitlands, which was the 
name they decided to give their new home : 
"It is very remotely situated, without a 
road, but surrounded by a beautiful green 
landscape of fields and woods." Nothing 
could have been more romantic than the 
site chosen — a field of about a hundred acres 
on a hillside, sloping to the river, with the 
most lovely views of Wachusett and Monad - 
nock to the west, the intervening stretches 
dotted with towns and villages, while in the 
background rose the tree -crowned summit 
of Prospect Hill. 

Here gathered the little band, and began 



15 



the work of forming "a family in harmony 
with the primitive instincts of man." No 
meat was to be eaten, nor were fish, butter, 
cheese, eggs, or milk allowed — nothing that 
in the taking would cause pain or seem like 
robbing any animal; besides, animal food, 
if only approximately animal, as milk and 
butter, would corrupt the body and through 
that the soul! Tea, coffee, molasses, and 
rice, were forbidden for two reasons — be- 
cause they were in part foreign luxuries, 
and in part the product of slave labour. 
Water alone for drink, fruit in plenty, and 
some vegetables, were permitted; but in 
these last a distinction was made between 
those which grow in the air and those 
which grow downward, like potatoes and 
others which form underground . The latter 
were less suited for what these visionaries 
termed a ''chaste supply" for their bodily 
needs. Louisa Alcott says that ten ancient 
apple trees were all the ''chaste supply" 
the place afforded. Salt was another article 
forbidden, it is hard to see why. Maple 
syrup and sugar were to be abundant in 
time, and bayberry tallow was to furnish 

16 




ORCHAilD AT " FRUITLANDS." 
From a photograph by J. C. L. Clark. 



y 



a 



11 



.ii»lO .J .0 .L ycf ifqiSiso^torlq .b raoi'i |^ 



light, when anything but the inner Ught 
was required. All this was to elevate and 
purify the body and bring about a state of 
perfection in body, mind, and soul. 

The following are some of the principles 
upon which their habits of life were to rest : 
"We must ignore laws which ignore holi- 
ness; our trust is in purity; with pure 
beings will come pure habits ; a better being 
shall be built up from the orchard and the 
garden ; the outward form shall beam with 
soul." "From the fountain we will slake 
our thirst, and our appetite shall find sup- 
ply in the delicious abundance which Po- 
mona offers. Flesh and blood we will 
reject as the accursed thing. A pure mind 
has no faith in them." 

Certain ideas called "no government 
theories" held sway in Alcott's breast, 
which just before his going to Harvard led 
to his arrest by the deputy sheriff, Sam Sta- 
ples, for refusing to pay his taxes, on the 
ground that he would "not support a 
government so false to the law of love." 
And here I must digress to tell what 
Thoreau calls a good anecdote. Miss Helen 

17 



Thoreau asked Sheriff Staples wliat lie 
thought Mr. Alcott's idea was; and he 
answered, with hearty if inelegant empha- 
sis, "I vum, I beheve it was nothing but 
principle, for I never heard a man talk hon- 
ester." Even those who most thoroughly 
disbelieved in the practicabiUty of the re- 
former's views were ready to concede his 
entire honesty of purpose. Emerson called 
Alcott "a nineteenth century Simon Styl- 
ites." 

With these qualities, he set out for Fruit - 
lands — the name, like everything else fine 
about these plans, but a prophecy. The pro- 
jects of these people were, as Emerson was 
fond of describing them, ''without feet or 
hands. ' ' Ordinary farming was not part of 
their plan of life . No ploughs were to be used 
because they would require the aid of cattle ; 
the spade and the pruning -knife were to be 
all-sufficient. None of the company was 
used to the labour required, and of course 
blistered hands and intense weariness were 
common ; but the All -soul disciples struggled 
bravely on for a few months, yielding at last 
so far to the inevitable as to allow a yoke of 

18 



cattle to be used in performing the hardest 
tasks. In the half droll, half pathetic pages 
of ' ' Transcendental Wild Oats ," it is asserted 
that one of the supposititious oxen was a cow, 
and that the owner used to take long 
draughts at the milking pail in the privacy 
of the barn. The truth is that Joseph Pal- 
mer, a member of the community, of whom 
I shall have something to tell later, brought 
from his home in Leominster a cow and a 
bull, which he had trained to work together. 
He was the original of Moses White in Miss 
Alcott's story, in which, with a decorous 
alteration, this incident figures. It is said 
that some others of the family were glad to 
share the less frugal meals of kindly neigh- 
bours, though this was probably never true 
of Alcott. 

Their dress was another matter held of 
great importance. Cotton was largely the 
product of slave labour, and wool came from 
robbing the sheep, so linen was as far as 
possible to form the material of their gar- 
ments. One cannot help but wonder how 
men with any common sense could dream 
of living through our New England year 

19 



clad in linen. While summer and summer 
warmth lasted, many deprivations could be 
overlooked, though even then Mrs. Alcott's 
shoulders must have found heavy burdens 
for their upholding. The rest might be 
seeking the All- soul; but to her fell the 
task, often almost beyond her powers, of 
providing for their physical needs, which 
even with their high philosophy could not 
be wholly overlooked. 

The education of the children was not 
neglected. Miss Page gave them music les- 
sons ; and Louisa frankly declares she hated 
the lady, she was ''so fussy." From their 
father and Mr. Lane they had instruction 
in various branches. Louisa in her diary 
tells of things pleasant and the reverse ; how 
she tried to be good, and how she failed; of 
a visit from Parker Pillsbury, and his talk 
about the poor slaves ; of their dinners of 
bread and fruit; how they played in the 
woods and were fairies, and how she "flied" 
the highest of all; and of a corn -husking in 
the barn, with the somewhat unusual inci- 
dent, if one may judge by its being recorded, 
that they had lamps. Indeed, a kinswoman 

20 



VIEW FROM PROSPECT HILL. 
From a photograph by F. T. Harvey. 



iV- 



1:1' leu the 

iici powers, of 

tor L ^ - ^s, which 

: j.jniiu:::<jpiiv COUl(l HOt 

»• Vt<^ ",' Kl I. ',. ■.■> tjl-iv J_l 

*> 

,c^y/' Prom t 
y had instruc: 

^i«a in her din^- 

she i ; of 

'. and bis talk 

8 of 

d in the 






of Mrs. Alcott's tells me that her occasional 
insistence on ordinary means of lighting 
(bayberry tallow not being as yet available) 
called forth much reproachful opposition. 
Louisa writes of a visit from Professor Wil- 
liam Russell, and a Sunday's tramp in the 
woods for moss to adorn a bower their 
father was making, in which Mr. Emerson 
was to be honoured. Louisa wrote little 
poems and read and listened to various 
books. Mrs. Child's "Philothea" was a 
great favourite with the little girls, so much 
so that they made a dramatic version 
of it, which they acted under the trees. 
That the father encouraged his children in 
their innocent gayety is shown by the fam- 
ily habit of celebrating birthdays. Thus, 
when May was three years old, 28 July of 
the summer spent at Pruitlands, the whole 
family met under the trees of a neighbouring 
grove, and, crowning the little girl with 
flowers, Mr. Alcott read an ode celebrating 
the day in the child's honour, and as the 
dawn of their opening paradise. 

Emerson's ideas had been an incentive 
in the establishment of the community ; but 

21 



much as lie sympathised with the pure 
ideahsm of their plans, he never seemed to 
believe in their practical value, and, again, 
called Alcott ''a tedious archangel," and 
said that Alcott and Lane were "always 
feeling of their shoulders to see if their 
wings were sprouting." Hawthorne wrote 
of Alcott: "One might readily conceive his 
Orphic sayings to well up from a fountain 
in his breast which communicated with the 
infinite Abyss of thought." His English 
friend, Mr. Wright, soon pronounced him 
impractical. Thoreau, with many kindred 
beliefs, was sometimes vexed with him ; and 
Lowell, as if in prophecy, wrote : 

'•Our nipping climate hardly suits 
The ripening of ideal fruits, 
His theories vanquish us all summer, 
But winter makes him dumb and dumber." 

Some of the members of the family went 
visiting at Brook Farm, and came home 
shocked at the luxury and epicureanism 
they found. Young Isaac Hecker came 
to Fruitlands from the larger community, 
as he wished to lead a more self-denying 
life. After a stay of two weeks, however, 

22 



he departed, still unsatisfied, to enter at 
last the Catholic priesthood.* People of 
strange dress and stranger ideas came and 
went, largely drones in the world's work- 
aday hive; and the Newness, the All- 
soul, must have been written in other 
words for overworked, tired Mrs. Alcott. 
Alcott and Lane went to New York to hold a 
discussion withW. H. Channing. LydiaMa- 
ria Child, who was a dear personal friend of 
the Alcotts, gives a somewhat amusing ac- 
count of the matter. Mr. Child and John 
Hopper had been to hear the discussion, and 
Mrs. Child asked what had been talked 
about. Mr. Child said: ''Mr. Lane divided 
man into three states, the disconcious, the 
conscious, and the unconscious ; thediscon- 
scious is the state of a pig, the conscious is 
the baptism by water, and the unconscious 
is the baptism by fire. And as for myself," 
he added, "when I had heard them talk for 

* In August, 1844, Father Hecker, then a Catholic convert, 
visited Harvard with Emerson, and seems to have called on 
Alcott, at Still River, and on Charles Lane, who was probably 
still with the Harvard Shakers. For Lane's unselfishness and 
singleness of character Hecker always retained admiration. His 
comments on Alcott, made late in life to his biographer, Father 
Elliott, are more amusing than complimentary. 

23 



a few moments, I didn't know whether I 
had any mind or not." Hopper declared 
that while Channing thought there was 
some connection between mind and body, 
Alcott and Lane seemed to think the body 
a sham. 

In Louisa's diary we find what she calls 
a "sample of the vegetable wafers we used 
at Fruitlands:" 

"Vegetable diet and sweet repose; ani- 
mal food and nightmare." 

"Apollo eats no flesh and has no beard; 
his voice is melody itself." 

"Pluck your body from the orchard, do 
not snatch it from the shambles." 
These are a few of the oracular instructions 
the children received from the philosophers. 

As cool weather came on, times grew 
harder. We find in Louisa's diary, under 
one date : "More people coming to live with 
us; I wish we could be together, and no 
one else. I don't see who is to feed and 
clothe us all, when we are so poor now. I 
was very dismal, and then went out to walk, 
and made a poem." This poem is entitled 
Cespondency ; " it is interesting, denoting, 

24 



u 



as it does, the loving trust which showed 
itself in the young heart thus early learning 
of life's burdens, a trust which is again 
shown in the record, of a little later date, 
when she tells of going under the forest trees 
and coming out into the sunshine, and of the 
strange and solemn feeling that came over 
her — that she, as she expresses it, "felt God 
as never before, and prayed that she might 
keep that happy sense of nearness all her 
life . ' ' This is the poem . Surely these lines 
are good for a girl not quite eleven years 
old: 

"Silent and sad 

When all is glad 
And tlie earth is dressed in flowers ; 

When the gay birds sing 

Till the forests ring 
As they rest in woodland bowers. 

"Oh, why these tears 

And these idle fears 
For what may come to-morrow? 

The birds find food 

From God so good, 
And the flowers know no sorrow. 

"If He clothes these, 

And the leafy trees. 
Will He not cherish thee? 

Why doubt His care? 

It is everywhere, 
Though the way we may not see. 

25 



"Then wliy be sad 

"When all is glad 
And the world is full of flowers? 

With the gay birds sing, 

Make life all spring, 
And smile through the darkest hours." 

One after another those who had com- 
posed the family departed, Lane and his son 
going to the Shakers for a while, and con- 
siderably later returning to England. Alcott 
also, I believe, was inclined to join the fol- 
lowers of Mother Ann Lee ; but to this his 
wife utterly refused to agree . An old neigh - 
hour once told me that Mrs. Alcott said her 
hope for her daughters was that they should 
become wives and mothers ; and life among 
the Shakers was apparently not likely to 
bring about that happy result. Alcott grew 
more and more discouraged. As his daugh- 
ter says, he lay down upon his bed and 
turned his face to the wall, refusing food 
and drink, and there waited for death to 
end the struggle. For a while tears and 
pleading from the faithful wife were of no 
avail, and she could only cling to the words 
which expressed the belief of her devout but 
incapable husband, ''The Lord will pro- 

26 



vide." It would seem that at last some 
kind angel brought the stricken man to see 
the selfishness of yielding to despair, when 
his wife and children were alike suffering 
and it was his duty to care for them. Some 
arrangements were made; and one cold 
December day the little family left Fruit - 
lands — which the mother suggested might 
more appropriately have been called "Apple 
Slump" — for a home in the village of Still 
River, in a part of the house known as the 
' 'Brick Ends, ' ' then owned and in part occu - 
pied by J. W. Lovejoy .* It is comforting to 
recall that, although Alcott, brave in his 
convictions, withstood the wintry blasts in 
his customary linen leggings, the broad-, 
brimmed hats and linen tunics of the little 
girls gave way to warmer garments sent by 
friends and relatives. Still more delightful 
is it to know that Mrs. Alcott, Uke many 
another weary woman, found comfort in 
"cups that cheer but not inebriate," and 
now and then went to a sympathetic neigh- 
bour's to make herself a cup of tea. 

* It is now the home of Mr. Harvey Keyes. Its brick ends 
on the north and south were long ago replaced by wood. 

27 



Of course queer stories had come to the 
villagers regarding the Transcendentalists ; 
so when one Sunday a long-haired man 
walked into the Still River (Baptist) church, 
interrupting the service to proclaim himself 
the Angel Grabriel, I think the incident 
seemed, though unfortunate, not altogether 
out of character. Gabriel, however, may 
have made Fruitlands his headquarters af- 
ter the place had passed into the hands of 
Joseph Palmer, who, because of his im- 
mense beard, when full beards were very 
rarely seen, was known as the "Old Jew." 

Palmer's maternal grandfather was Cap- 
tain Noah Wiswall, of Newton. His son 
and daughter having married children of a 
Mr. Palmer, said to have been a school- 
master, Wiswall presented the two young 
couples with adjoining farms in the unin- 
corporated tract called Notown. These two 
farms were part of a military grant inherited 
by Captain Wiswall. The daughter's por- 
tion was later joined to Leominster. She 
had fourteen children, of whom Joseph was 
the youngest. To him was left the Leomin - 
ster farm, and from him it descended to his 

28 




MONUMENT TO JOSEPH PALMER, LEOMINSTER, MASS. 
From a photograph by J. C. L. Clark. 



a.1.- 
. nf 





Mr Yi . 




n.,,. 




' .^ i^^./ii 




u of a 




}w>(^»i - 




V i / lL^..l.^ 


A l-l 


nnin - 








..MiA (1 




^ r)ov- 



.;ti«io.j.o.L Yt^ '*<i«?«p^o#<i,'^;«i<>^''^ . to his 



son, Dr. Thomas Palmer, a noted dentist of 
Fitchburg, now over eighty years old. The 
cottage built in the eighteenth century by 
Dr. Palmer's grandfather is yet standing 
near the doctor's modern summer residence. 
Joseph married Nancy Thompson, of Ster- 
ling, whose father, Benjamin Thompson, 
was a cousin of Benjamin Thompson, Count 
Rumford, originally of Woburn. 

When the community was started, the 
farm in Harvard, with its buildings, was 
purchased of one Maverick Wyman. The 
money for the land was contributed chiefly 
by Charles Lane. The buildings were 
bought by Joseph Palmer, who was in sym- 
pathy with the Transcendentalists and glad 
to aid in the scheme. 

After the collapse of the community, the 
trusteeship of the land, which had been held 
for Charles Lane by the Rev. Samuel J. 
May, Mrs. Alcott's brother, was transferred 
to R. W. Emerson (March, 1845) . In Aug- 
ust, 1846, the land was deeded by Emerson, 
as trustee, to Palmer, ''in consideration of 
seventeen hundred dollars," although the 
purchase money was in great part secured 

29 



to Lane by mortgage. The land carried 
also a mortgage of three hundred dollars, 
held by one Godfrey Sparrow. By 1852 the 
place was cleared of all incumbrances by 
Palmer's son, Dr. Thomas Palmer. It was 
the home of the "Old Jew" and of a daugh- 
ter, Mrs. Holman, to the end of their lives. 
Since Mrs. Holman 's death, the property 
has been sold by her sons to Mr. Abel Wil- 
lard, whose farm it adjoined. Mr. Palmer 
is buried in the large cemetery at Leomin- 
ster, his monument bearing his portrait in 
relief, beneath which are the words : "Per- 
secuted for wearing the beard." 

With the spring the Still River little 
folks found their new neighbours a welcome 
accession. A May party, with queen and 
maypole, was, I think, an idea of the young 
Alcotts, whose knowledge of historic cus- 
toms was greater than that possessed by the 
rest of us. A recent writer has called them 
"sad -faced children." That is a great mis- 
take. Whatever they may have lacked in 
everyday comforts, they never could have 
been rightly described by such a term. As 
sure as the sun shone and skies were blue, 

30 



Page, reduced, of mortgage, showing signatures of R. W. Emerson 
and Charles Lane, and mortgage note signed by Joseph Palmer. 
By courtesy of Dr. Thomas Palmer. 



;ied 

^>e hundred dollars, 

^ : -2the 

by 

it was 

udot adaugli- 

of their lives. 

,, the p^ ^y 

y lier sous lo Mr. Abei u d- 

it ad j oil Mr. Palmer 

;e cemeteiy at Leomin- 

. r'r- bis portrait in 

words: ''Per- 

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just so sure was the afternoon gathering on 
the grass plot in front of the "Brick Ends," 
and all of us enjoyed jumping rope, tossing 
ball and rolling hoop (so it seems to me 
now) as never before. Mrs. Alcott was 
like the guardian angel of the merry com- 
pany, often taking her seat in our midst 
and smiUng benignly upon our gay pranks. 

In the bright days of summer came the 
birthday of Lizzie, the ''Beth" of ''Little 
Women ; ' ' and never shall I forget the proud 
gladness which filled my childish heart as I 
went to the party given in honour of the day. 
Mrs. Lovejoy's kitchen was set about with 
evergreens, and otherwise rendered a fitting 
stage for the evening's entertainment. Her 
sitting-room was the dress circle, while the 
Alcott sitting-room was ornamented by a 
small tree, from the boughs of which hung 
gifts, not only for our small hostess, but for 
each httle friend present. In the adjoining 
kitchen a table was abundantly laden with 
little cakes and luscious cherries, with a big 
birthday cake in the centre. 

I cannot recall all the dramatic scenes 
enacted that evening, to me so memorable. 

31 



There was part of an old English play given 
by the older of the happy party, members 
of the Alcott and the neighbouring Gardner 
families. Then there were songs ; and Anna 
Alcott appeared as a Scotch laddie, in bonnet 
and plaid. What she recited I have forgot- 
ten, though I remember how pretty she 
looked. But Louisa was the star of the 
evening. Her mother had stained her face, 
arms, neck and ankles to the ruddy hue of 
an Indian girl ; her dress seemed made all 
of feathers ; feathers, too, crowned her head. 
Three times she made her appearance. 
Once, according to her own recollection, 
she sang the then popular song, ''Wild roved 
an Indian girl, bright Alfarata." Then 
erect, solemn as her merry face could be- 
come, she strode forward, bearing a large 
shield, and in almost blood-curdling accents 
— as an old schoolmate describes them — 
repeated the passage from Ossian begin- 
ning, "O thou that roUest above, round as 
the shield of my fathers ; ' ' and again, in ten - 
derer, softer accents, a poem from one of 
the school readers : 



32 



**Geehale — An Indian Lament. 

"The blackbird is singing on Micliigan's shore 
As sweetly and gaily as ever before ; 
For he knows to his mate he, at pleasure, can hie, 
And the dear little brood she is teaching to fly ; 
The sun looks as ruddy, and rises as bright. 
And reflects o'er our mountains as beamy a light 
As it ever reflected, or ever expressed, 
When my skies were the bluest, my dreams were the best. 
The fox and the panther, both beasts of the night, 
Retire to their dens on the gleaming of light. 
And they spring with a free and a sorrowless track. 
For they know that their mates are expecting them back. 
Each bird and each beast, it is blessed in degree ; 
All nature is cheerful, all happy, but me. 

"I will go to my tent, and lie down in despair ; 
I will paint me with black, and will sever my hair ; 
I will sit on the shore, where the hurricane blows, 
And reveal to the god of the tempest my woes ; 
I will weep for a season, on bitterness fed. 
For my kindred are gone to the hills of the dead ; 
But they died not by hunger, or lingering decay ; 
The steel of the white man hath swept them away. 

"This snake-skin, that once I so sacredly wore, 
I will toss, with disdain, to the storm-beaten shore; 
Its charms I no longer obey, or invoke ; 
Its spirit hath left me, its spell is now broke. 
I will raise up my voice to the source of the light; 
I will dream on the wings of the bluebird at night ; 
I will speak to the spirits that whisper in leaves. 
And that minister balm to the bosom that grieves ; 
And will take a new Manito — such as shall seem 
To be kind and propitious in every dream. 

"Oh! then I shall banish these cankering sighs, 
And tears shall no longer gush salt from my eyes ; 

33 



I shall wash from my face every cloud-coloured stain, 

Red, red shall, alone, on my visage remain ! 

I will dig up my hatchet, and bend my oak bow ; 

By night and by day I will follow the foe ; 

Nor lakes shall impede me, nor mountains, nor snows ; — 

His blood can, alone, give my spirit repose. 

"They came to my cabin, when heaven was black ; 
I heard not their coming, I knew not their track ; 
But I saw, by the light of their blazing fusees, 
They were people engendered beyond the big seas : 
My wife, and my children, — oh spare me the tale ! 
For who is there left that is kin to Geehale? " 

It was all so wonderful to us little ones ; 
and I well remember how the next day we 
looked to see if any remnant of the paint 
was left on Louisa's pretty neck and arms. 

Miss Louisa Chase, who taught the vil- 
lage school that summer, was fairly en- 
shrined in the hearts of her pupils ; and the 
rides and picnics in which Miss Chase and 
Mrs. Alcott watched over, and shared in, 
the happiness of the little people I shall 
never forget. Hay -carts would be provided 
with seats and trimmed with evergreen ; and 
carefully stowing away our luncheon -bask- 
ets, we one by one would take our seats in 
the rustic omnibuses, and start away, sing- 
ing and laughing, for a long day's pleasure. 

Mr. Alcott was too much engaged in 

34 



1S«m.': '!§ 




"BRICK ENDS." 
From a photograph by J. C. L. Clark. 



A bend my oak bow ; 

i^or snowa: — 

repose. 

eaven was black. 



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the next day we 
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philosophising and gardening to share in 
such merry-makings; but a lady, who was 
in those days one of the Still River school- 
girls, tells me of one occasion when he did 
attend a picnic at the school -house. I have 
an impression that it was held on the Fourth 
of July, and very likely Mr. Alcott had been 
asked to speak. One can well believe that 
the doughnuts, cold meat, pickles, cakes, and 
pies, usually served on such occasions, were 
little to his taste ; and, indeed, when there 
were passed to him some delicate cookies, 
contributed by the minister's wife, by whose 
side, unfortunately, he was sitting, the phi- 
losopher declined them with a wave of the 
hand, and the words, ''Vanity, and worse 
than vanity ! " 

Of the merry Alcott group and their inti- 
mates, Louisa was the ring -leader when- 
ever and wherever there was a chance to 
"have some fun." She often, as she says, 
"got mad;" but her anger went as quickly 
as it came. Still she could be severe. One 
day the neighbours were astonished to see a 
chair suspended from one of the "Brick 
Ends" windows. It appeared that Louisa, 

35 



while ''cleaning house" with great energy, 
had "bumped" herself against a chair, 
whereupon that devoted article of furniture 
was arraigned, found guilty, and immedi- 
ately hanged ! 

Another tale is related by the school- 
mate who was Louisa's most intimate Still 
River friend. Calling at the Alcott's one 
day, she found Louisa in a httle hall cham- 
ber, where she had been sentenced to re- 
main till she was sorry for speaking disre- 
spectfully to her mother; at present, she 
was not sorry. She confided to her friend, 
who remarked a peculiar odour, that, as she 
must stay there, she had thought it a good 
time to oil her hair, which she had been 
doing, most lavishly, with some of poor 
Mrs. Alcott's whale-oil! A recollection 
caused the prisoner shortly to declare she 
could stay indoors no longer. Deaf to her 
visitor's remonstrances, she explained that 
the day before she had accidentally killed a 
spider in the pasture, and must needs go 
and look at his monument, which she had 
erected. So the two little girls crept softly 
down stairs and out through the garden, 

3G 



successfully avoiding the notice of Mr. Al- 
cott, who was busy hoeing. The monument 
proved to be a shingle fixed in the ground, 
bearing an epitaph appropriate to the un- 
fortunate spider.* All this seems very much 
like a chapter from one of Miss Alcott's 
stories. 

Well do I remember my childish distress 
over an incident at school. Miss Chase, 
doubtless weary of the mending of some 
forty quills, had gladly welcomed the inno- 
vation of steel pens. I was very proud of 
the one she had given me; but one day, 
alas ! Louisa in a spirit of mischief seized 
the quill -handle into which my pen was 
fitted, and threw it into the middle of the 
fioor, spoiling the point, and filling my little 
heart with pain. A pleasanter recollection 
is of the first banana I ever tasted, one 
which Lizzie Alcott shared with me, and 
which I remember she called ''bread fruit." 

* The same friend tells me that a certain large rock on the 
border of lovely Bear Hill Pond was named by Louisa ^' Spider- 
land," and that from this favourite resort she used to write notes 
to her friends. Her evident regard for these creepy insects — are 
they, indeed, insects? — reminds one of George Macdonald's story 
of ''The Giant's Heart." 

37 



Sweet, clever Anna Alcott — "Meg" — 
used to write little stories in a blank book ; 
and I can fancy myself now walking very 
slowly home from school, along the broad 
green sidewalk between the corner and Mr. 
Orasmns Willard's, with my dear playmates, 
Lizzie Alcott and Helen Lovejoy, while 
Anna read to us what seemed very wonder- 
ful tales. 

Taught that the eating of meat was 
wrong, the Alcott children looked, of course, 
upon any form of butchering as a veritable 
crime, and many were the spirited debates 
which Lizzie and I had on the subject. 
Fruits, grains, and vegetables made up the 
sum of their home diet; but, like some of 
the older Fruitlanders, they were not averse 
from sharing more varied food, provided at 
picnics and other rural festivities. Kind 
friends and relatives, as I have mentioned, 
sent them, besides baskets of fruit, many 
articles of clothing ; and it would seem as if 
this brief, bright summer must have been a 
welcome relief to Mrs. Alcott from the toil 
and care with which she had been burdened 
at Fruitlands. 

38 



An anecdote of Mrs. Alcott's Still River 
life well illustrates her generous nature. In 
tlie same village was a lady of ample means, 
and possessing true refinement, who paid 
little or no attention to prevailing styles. 
While of excellent materials, her clothes 
were, indeed, far enough from the fashion. 
Among a quantity of garments sent to Mrs. 
Alcott by friends were several bonnets, and 
great was Mrs. 's good-humoured aston- 
ishment when Mrs. Alcott, in the most del- 
icate manner, offered one of them to her ! 
Although the bonnet was not accepted, I 
have no doubt that these two good women 
were drawn closer by an incident which, if 
shared by less noble characters, might have 
ended unhappily. 

We were all very sorry when our beloved 
playmates went back to Concord. Once, not 
many years later, Louisa was so anxious to 
see Still River again that she walked from 
Concord to visit the Gardners. She often 
thought of the summer spent in Still River, 
as is shown by the use in her stories of the 
names of people she had known there, and 
by some of her letters. In one here repro- 

39 



duced, wMch was written to me more than 
thirty years ago, she speaks of the "old Still 
River days" as "jolly times," and describes 
a mock wedding in the woodshed, in which 
she took the part of bride. The friend I 
have referred to so often, Sophia (Grardner) 
Wyman, says that this ceremony was con- 
ducted after the gipsy manner, the bride 
and groom jumping together over a broom- 
stick which was held by S. and another 
playmate. 

The second letter which I give in fac- 
simile, written fifteen years later, expresses 
kindly approbation of a Wide Awake storj of 
mine relating to "Beth's" birthday party, 
and alludes to the happy days spent at Still 
River. These two letters show the great 
change which took place in Miss Alcott's 
handwriting, the result, I believe, of writ- 
er's cramp. 

Another letter, which Mrs. Wyman has 
kindly allowed me to copy, was wi^itten the 
year after the Alcotts' removal from Still 
River. It evidently refers in part to the 
return from a visit to the Gardners, on 
which occasion Anna very likely accompa- 

40 



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41 



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nied Louisa. The "P. S." and ''N. B." re- 
mind one of Tommy Bangs's letter to Ms 
grandmother in ''Little Men." I have fol- 
lowed the original verbatim et litteratim, but 
not quite punctuatim, 

"Concord, Tuesday, 23[d]. 
^'Dear Sophia: 

*'I had nothing to do, so I thought I would scribble a 
few lines to my dear Fire, as Abby still calls you. I have just 

written a long letter to L all myself, for mother is too buisy 

and Anna to[o] lazy. I supose M will schold if I call Anna 

lazy, but she is to[o] lazy to do any thing but drum on the 
Seraphine till we are all stuned with her noise. I need not tell 
you we are all alive and kicking, most of our family, that is ; 

Miss F and S are going away, so I shan't have to be 

fussed any more with them, for Miss F is particular and 

S is cross. I have not forgotten the ten matches we lit on 

a certain night, and my head and bones still shake after the beat- 
ing they got when I was at Harvard. O, if you had only been 
with us when we came home ! — a stage full of bawling babies 
and nervious marms to take care of the little dears. I had to be 
perched on top of the stage, and pitched up and down like butter 
in a churn. I had a beautiful walk the other day with my gov- 
erness and the children to a pond called Finch pond, there we 
found lots of grape[e]s and some lovely flowers; and now, if 
you won't laugh, I'll tell you something — if you will believe it, 

Miss F and all of us waded across it, a great big pond a 

mile long and half a mile wide, we went splashing along making 
the fishes run like mad before our big claws, when we got to 
the other side we had a funny time getting on our shoes and un- 
mentionables, and we came tumbling home all wet and muddy ; 
but we were happy enough, for we came through the woods 
bawling and singing like crazy folks. Yesterday we went over 

41 



a little way from our house into some great big fields full of 
apple-trees, which we climed, tearing our clothes off our backs 
(luckly they were old) and breaking our bones f !], playing tag 
and all sorts of strange things. We are dreadfull wild people 
here in Concord, we do all the sinful things you can think of. I 
have got some hous[e] plants; one of them is called a Crab 
Cactus, the flower looks like a toad and the leaves look as if they 
were joined together by a very fine thread. The folks were very 
much pleased with my fruit, but the grapes were crushed some 
in tumbling in and out of the cars.* I have been pressing col- 
oured leaves, they look very pretty when they are arranged 
prettly on white paper. I go to school every day to Mr. Lane, but 
do not have half so good a time as I did at Miss Chase's school ; 
the summer I went there was the happiest summer I ever spent 
in the country, there was such a lot of jolly girls to play and 
blab with, and we used to have such good times — though we 
did used to get mad now and then, it did not last long. I went 
to court and heard William Whyman acquitted. I hopped right 
up out of my seat when the foreman said Not Guilty. Poor Mr. 
Whyman ! he cried right out, he was so glad ; his trial has lasted 
three years and the poor man's hair has turned gray, though it 
was black at first, they have plagued him so.f What a silly fool 
I am to be talking to you about things you do not care about 
hearing, so I will stop. I shall make you a visit next summer, 
if you will not come down and see me. Mother said she would 
pay the postage, so I will scribble with all my might. Our gar- 
den looks dreadful shabby, for Father has been gone to New 
York for a long time and Mr. Lane does not under stand garden- 
ing very well. I must say good by now, for I must go and prac- 



* The little girls no doubt went by stage as far as Littleton, continuing 
their journey to Concord by the then new and wonderful Fitchburg Railroad. 

t The case against William Wyman for embezzlement grew out of the 
failure in 1842 of the Phoenix Bank of Charlestown, of which Wyman was 
president. He would appear to have been acquitted of a portion of the charges 
against him before the Court of Common Pleas at Concord in June, 1845. The 
case was finally "non pressed" at Cambridge the following February. 

42 



m^^::^-:^ 



MARM WEBBER'S COTTAGE. 
From a photograph hy J. C. L. Clark. 



of 

icka 

ijlaying tag 

>p]e 

. I 

a Crab 

;v as if they 



a pressinji; col- 

Chase's school; 

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tise for an hour, farewell. Mother sends her love to all the dear 

folks, and Anny lots to G ; by, by, dear childer, 

" the lord [sic] bless you, 

'' from your affectionate 

''friend Louisa. 

" P. S. If you and M will come down and see us, I will 

light ten matches for you, and you shall have a nice big room— 
if you will only come without delay, for our lives depend upon 
it, so come with the greatest possible despatch; bring little 

P two [too] for Abby ; my respects to Walter, and tell him 

my finger is better and I hope his is too ; hope A is better, 

tell her to get well as fast as she can and come with you ; I hope 
Betty G. won't turn her nose up at me the next time I come, for 
it most broke my heart, it was so affecting ; good by, L. M. A. 

" N. B. Now I have written you a long letter, and you must 

answer it, M must not write a word in it, must be all for 

me.* I pray and beg you will not show this to any body and 

[willj excuse all mistakes, for I am in a hurry ; did you ever see 

the time when I was not? 

"L. M. A. 
"I won't say any more now, my dear S." 

To one who knows the destitute circum- 
stances of the Alcott family at this period, 
the httle Louisa's somewhat airy references 
to summers in the country and ''my govern- 
ess" may afford innocent mirth. 

In the chapter of ''Little Men" where 
Dan tells the story of "Marm Webber," 

* That is to say, if Margaret wrote, it would be to Anna. The little Al- 
cotts' intimacies were, like most children's, formed through similarity of age: 
Margaret Gardner "went with" Anna Alcott; Sophy Gardner with Louisa; to 
Helen Lovejoy and me Lizzie was our dearest friend; and Louisa conjures 
Sophy to bring Polly for little Abba May. 

43 



i> 



Miss Alcott was portraying a Still River 
character. On the slope of Prospect Hill 
there actually lived a Mrs. Webber, whose 
house was a hospital for homeless and un- 
fortunate cats. Whatever were the old 
dame's faults of temper, she was a true 
friend to her feline pets, although her put- 
ting the hopeless invalids out of their misery 
with ether is a touch of Miss Alcott's fancy, 
since, I believe, that anaesthetic had not 
been invented in the real Marm Webber's 
time. 

I well remember how great was the in- 
terest felt by old Still River schoolmates 
when, in the Saturday Evening Gazette, arti- 
cles began to appear written by the merry 
girl who had left so strong an impression on 
our minds. Right proud were we when 
''Little Women" followed the pathetic pages 
of "Hospital Sketches;" and loyal hearts 
rejoiced in each later success, and mourned 
when the life lived so faithfully for others 
ended so early. 



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44 



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